Friday Holiday Fun SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS Conclusion

We Have Already Seen ...

In a desperate attempt to stimulate their lethargic and unmotivated children, the Martians decide to create a Christmas celebration on Mars.
But, the idea lacks one vital element...the real Santa Claus!
The benevolent Martian leader, Kimar, leads an expedition to Earth, where the aliens invade Santa's workshop at the North Pole.
Transporting Kris Kringle (and a couple of Earth kids they ran into) to the Red Planet, the Martians build a totally-automated factory to produce enough toys in time for Christmas.
But, the big green men are divided about if Santa's presence on Mars is actually helping their offspring.
A dissident group, lead by Voldar, sabotages the factory and kidnaps who they think is Santa, but is actually Kimar's bumbling aide, Dropo in a spare Santa suit...

Now, as a special early Christmas present...

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians:

the Motion Picture!

(Actually the MST3K version condensed down to 10 minutes!)

Friday Holiday Fun SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS Part 2

When Last We Left Santa Claus...

Actually, the robot doesn't speak in the movie!

In a desperate attempt to stimulate their lethargic and unmotivated children, the Martians decide to create a Christmas celebration on Mars.
But, the idea lacks one vital element...the real Santa Claus!
The Martian leader, Kimar, leads an expedition to Earth, where they find a pair of children who direct them to Santa's workshop at the North Pole.
The aliens and their robot invade the workshop, stun the elves and Mrs Claus, and depart, taking both Santa and the children with them...

Will Voldar realize his mistake?

And if so, will Droppo survive?

Will Santa get back to Earth in time for Christmas?

Be here next Friday for the answers to these and other questions in the thrilling conclusion!

Friday Holiday Fun SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS Part 1

Believe it or not, there was a comic book version of this holiday "classic" flick...

...in 1966, from Dell Comics!

Next Friday: Santa's trip to Mars...

(...not to be confused with Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars!)

The writer/adaptor is unknown, but the art is by Bob Jenney, who did quite a few movie and tv adaptations for Dell.

The actual title of the comic is Dell Movie Classic #725.
Not only was it sold on newsstands, but it was packaged with an LP album of the movie's audio including dialogue, sound effects and (shudder) the earworm-creating theme song!
(Remember, they didn't have streaming services, DVDs/Blu Rays, or even videocassettes back in the 1960s!)

Holiday Reading Room JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!" & JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

No Matter Where Humans Travel in the Universe...

...they will find a way to celebrate joy and happiness even under the most stressful of circumstances, as in this tale behind a very misleading (but extremely-kool) Bill Everett cover!

Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) is more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than this later tale by a pair of Silver Age legends following the same basic plot...

This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko (You've heard of them, right?) tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) amps up the humans' paranoia, but plays down scientific accuracy!
(Even in 1962, we knew Mercury was unlivable for humans without extensive protective equipment and clothing!)

But, to be fair, both tales are equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?

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Friday Holiday Fun SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS

I Need Some Serious Fun (Yes, That Sounds Contradictory) Right Now!

He's the Jolly Old Elf in a red suit!

They are BIG Green Men from Mars with an even BIGGER robot!

Before Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, they were the ingredients for the weirdest Christmas movie ever!

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was filmed in 1964 in that bastion of cinema, Long Island New York (in an unused airplane hanger!

Starring a host of tv and b-movie actors including handsome-but-wooden Leonard Hicks as the benevolent Martian leader Kimar, 60s villain/voiceover artist Vincent Beck (who did lots of work for Irwin Allen's sci-fi shows) as the film's mustache-twirling, scenery-chewing Martian villain, Voldar, and John Call as a pretty damn convincing cuddly Santa Claus, the film is classic kiddie matinee programming at its' retro campy best!

The plot's pretty simple.

The children of Mars are in a funk.

The adult Martians deduce it's due to the children's strict and sterile upbringing, and that to "normalize" them, the kids must have fun!

And what could be more fun than celebrating Christmas?

But, to do a proper Christmas, you need a Santa Claus!

Thus, the Martians journey to Earth to kidnap Santa Claus and force him to create a Christmas celebration on Mars!

Then, as they used to say in TV Guide's plot listings, hilarity ensues! (well, sorta)

As an example of low-budget filmmaking, it's amazingly-effective.

Every penny (what few of them they had) is up on the screen.

The costuming and Santa's Workshop and Mars sets are as good as those of tv shows of the period.

(The Martian robot is probably the weakest element from a design and execution standpoint, but, hey, nobody's perfect!)

There's extensive use of military stock footage (from Dr. Strangelove, no less).

And, the idea to utilize the then-current Wham-O Air Blaster toy guns as Martian weapons was either a stroke of marketing genius or clever use of limited funds.
Either way, sales of the guns shot thru the roof after the film hit the kiddie matinee circuit!

If you're between 3-9 years old, the flick's a lot of fun.

If you're between 10 and whatever the local drinking age is, it'll drive you nuts, especially the theme song!
And to prove it...here it is!

If you're over the local drinking age...do so before watching!
It's available on a host of public domain DVDs and BluRays as well as one of the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 snarkfests.

BTW: The image at top is the cover of the comic book tie-in.
There was also a 45rpm single of the theme, a spoken-word LP album of the movie's dialogue (which included the comic book), and a novelization, all of which are HTF...and expensive when you do find them!

Be Here Next Friday,

when we begin our re-presentation of the comic book adaptation of the movie!

Now I can't get that damn theme out of my head..."Hoo-ray for Santy Claus..."

AARRRGGGHHH!

Space Heroine Saturday BARBARELLA 2.2

When Last We Left Our Space Heroine...

With Captain Dildano and the rest of his crew dead, and their ship a derelict, Barbarella is stranded on Lython...

There are more plot elements and characters who ended up in the movie, though at the flick's beginning, rather than midway through the story, as they do here.

Some characters like "Klill, the horrid little Martian", didn't appear in the film.
The explanation of why the inhabitants are dressed in mid-19th Century Earth fashions was utilized a year later in the Classic Star Trek episode "Squire of Gothos".
At any rate, the "antique-looking" clothing and technology didn't make it into the movie's version of this sequence!

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